Global Coin Solutions was established in Toronto, Canada in 2015 with charitable support at the heart of the business. Coin & Mint News™ spoke to founder and CEO, Scott Hutchings, about the company’s ethos and process, the challenges facing coin repatriation, and why collaboration is key to efficient and sustainable coin recirculation.

The finalists for the 2024 IACA Excellence in Currency Awards have been announced, with presentation of the winning submissions scheduled to take place at this year’s Coin Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten has unveiled the designs for the new Caribbean guilder coins and banknotes via simultaneous events held on both islands. The designs draw inspiration from the World Under the Sea where fish swim freely, seeing no borders, noted the Bank during the unveiling.

The Mint of Finland (Suomen Rahapaja) is to cease operations and wind down in an orderly manner by next year, bringing to an end a 160-year business which first began minting coins in 1864.

The Coin Conference takes place in Lisbon, from 28-30 October, against a backdrop of considerable change in the world of circulating coinage. The agenda is busy and full of substance, reflecting the key challenges, and opportunities, that face issuers and producers.

The Royal Australian Mint (RAM) has produced a coin to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) being formed entirely of Indigenous peoples.

The US Mint’s ‘Liberty Through Perseverance’ $100 gold coin has been awarded the top prize in this year’s Coin of the Year awards. The 2024 awards honour coins dated 2023 in 10 categories of competition, as decided by an international panel of judges.

During most Olympic and Paralympic Games, there have been a variety of products released to commemorate the occasion and celebrate the athletes taking part. The 2024 Paris Games are no different, and here we cover a selection of commemoratives minted to mark the event.

Precious metal producer and supplier Heimerle + Meule Group has announced its rebranding to HM Precious Metals, with immediate effect. The rebranding has occurred in the course of the Group’s ongoing internationalisation and, it says, is an adaptation of the company’s name to optimise it for worldwide use.

The Royal Mint has published its latest annual report for the year ended 31 March 2024, noting total revenue of £1.4 billion – a 28% reduction from the previous year. In its report, the Mint noted that it had experienced challenges during the year, but it also emphasised the continuation of its five-year diversification strategy.

A few recent personnel updates from The Royal Mint, Royal Dutch Mint, MKS PAMP, and Schuler.

In June, the Mint Director’s Association held a webinar focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool and how it can be implemented to improve productivity. Titled ‘The Future is Here: How Artificial Intelligence Will Change Modern Minting’, the webinar was hosted by Aditya Berlia – an entrepreneur, educator, and AI advocate – and sponsored by Carveco.

AI is an inevitable evolution in many aspects of the minting business. At its core, it automates repetitive tasks, making it a powerful tool for numerous applications within a modern mint.

No orders for new coins intended for general circulation have been sent by the Treasury to The Royal Mint this year, in what is believed to be a historic first. The Royal Mint issued just shy of 16 million coins last year, in comparison to the 162 million issued in 2022-23.

Uganda has become the latest African nation to look to gold as support for its currency, as the Bank of Uganda initiates a Domestic Gold Purchase Program with the objectives of building the country’s foreign reserves and minimising risks on reserves investments.

Researchers at the Centre for Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada have utilised image-mining techniques and machine learning algorithms to identify flaws in counterfeit coins, enabling greater detection of fakes.

In commemoration of its 50th anniversary, the Central Bank of the Bahamas has issued a painted version of the country’s 25 cent coin into circulation. The coin is the first painted circulation coin issued by the central bank, and the first circulation coin in the world to feature colour on both sides.

The high-level programme and award categories for the next edition of The Coin Conference have been announced, with the event scheduled to take place 28-30 October in Lisbon, Portugal.

The Royal Mint has signed an exclusive distribution deal with RARCOA to grow its commemorative coin business in the US, and which is projected to turnover £100 million over the next three years.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of 'D-Day' and several European mints have produced coins to commemorate the occasion – amongst them The Royal Mint, Monnaie de Paris, and the Royal Dutch Mint.